Single- and two-stage cross-sectional and time series benchmarking procedures for small area estimation

This article is divided into two parts. In the first part, we review and study the properties of single-stage cross-sectional and time series benchmarking procedures that have been proposed in the literature in the context of small area estimation. We compare cross-sectional and time series benchmarking empirically, using data generated from a time series model which complies with the familiar Fay-Herriot model at any given time point. In the second part, we review cross-sectional methods proposed for benchmarking hierarchical small areas and develop a new two-stage benchmarking procedure for hierarchical time series models. The latter procedure is applied to monthly unemployment estimates in Census Divisions and States of the USA.